Counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs) cost the electronics industry millions of dollars in economic injury. Beyond direct loss related to replacing counterfeit parts or circuit boards with installed counterfeit parts, there can be secondary injury to users of equipment that can malfunction from underperforming or non-performing counterfeit ICs. Such secondary injuries can range from reduced productivity to loss of life where, for example, the malfunctioning or underperforming counterfeit IC is installed in a safety of life system, medical apparatus, or military aircraft.
With growing IC industry awareness of the counterfeit IC problem, the IC industry continues to add new counterfeit detection schemes to IC production lines. Unfortunately, such newly implemented techniques do little to facilitate counterfeit detection of obsolete IC types, many of these ICs having been originally manufactured decades ago.